


The Story behind the Christmas Baubles

by Faiseuse_d_Histoires



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers trope, Jonerys Secret Santa 2019, Modern AU, seems like I can't help it, with a little bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:07:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22041547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faiseuse_d_Histoires/pseuds/Faiseuse_d_Histoires
Summary: On Christmas eve, Jon is struggling to put the children to bed. So he tells them a story they know all too well. The story that bonded their mother and him together. The story of the Christmas baubles they hang every year on the tree.
Relationships: Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen
Comments: 12
Kudos: 95





	The Story behind the Christmas Baubles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mazzeroo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mazzeroo/gifts).



> Hello everyone!  
> This is a one shot made as a gift for the Jonerys Secret Santa for the lovely Mazzeroo :) She asked me a friends to lovers fanfic, with targlings and soft moments. I hope you will like it!  
> Sorry for the eventual faults in the text. I'm quite tired now and some may have escaped my notice.   
> Don't hesitate to tell me what you think of it (it's been so long since I've written some fluff and smut, so I felt a bit rusty)  
> The italic parts are the memories, and the standards are the present day (I hope it's not too confusing).  
> Merry Christmas to everyone! (well... belatedly) and a happy new year (early)

“Once upon a time there was a boy. A boy who knew he had to save the world… A boy with a sense of destiny about him…. ”

“Dad, you’re overdoing it.” One voice protested.

“That boy was you?” Another asked.

“Of course it was!” the other voice protested. “But when are you going to talk about the baubles that you and mama always hang on the Christmas tree? That’s the most interesting part!”

Jon chuckled. In front of him laid two children, both tucked under the covers, looking at him with impatience and anticipation.

Elyanne was the eldest. Six year old (and a half, she would add). She had brown hair and violet eyes, the eyes of her mother, with the same spark that made him fall in love with her so many years ago. She seemed impetuous, and damn, she was. It was actually quite surprising she was that calm tonight.

Reagan was at the very beginning of his fifth year, his birthday having been feasted properly two weeks ago. He had a very solemn look in his face that made him look older than his age, softened by his light blond hair and the soft grey of his eyes.

Soon they would need to have each a room of their own. But they were still at an age when it was enough. And it was easier for the bedtime stories.

He smiled at them, feeling his heart swell.

“Yes Reagan. That boy was me.”

“Where is mama?”

“Mama is… Elyanne, Reagan, let me continue and I’ll tell about your mother.”

“Mmm. Fine.” She pouted. “Ghost, come here.”

The white husky, that had been at the door moments ago like a statue, sat next to her silently and she put her arms around his neck. Reagan protested, wanting some place next to him too.

Jon laughed at that. Since they adopted him, the dog had always had a mind of his own; But with the kids, he seemed to be so very caring, accepting even impromptu rides around the flat.

The kids raised their heads towards him and he knew he had to continue. He cleared his throat before doing so.

“Well, there was this boy. A… well, very lonely boy, despite being part of a big family. He got along with his little sister and his brothers fine, but there was a problem. His mother wasn’t the same as theirs.”

Reagan’s face became confused.

“And what’s the problem with that?”

“Hush, Reagan, the best is coming,” Elyanne interrupted, a big smile on her face. “Please, tell us when you met mama! Tell us about the baubles!”

He chuckled.

“Alright little dragon, I’ll go to the point. The boy wanted to be accepted. To be really… part of the family.”

And he began, letting the memories overcome him as he talked.

*

_A bauble. A glass bauble, personalized with little wood characters in it. A pack of wolves protecting each other, as monsters came threatening them._

_It may have been a strange idea, he thought, feeling a bit afraid at rejection. But still, at the age of ten, it seemed like a grand idea at the time, one that would give his meaning in the best way._

_It had taken him a long time to create it, and a few failures before getting a result that would satisfy him. His friend Gendry had helped him get the glass bauble and advised him on how to carve the little figurines he wanted to put inside._

_A pack. What he wanted to be a part of. What he hoped he would be a part of._

_If only he could get the acceptance he needed from her… he thought as he looked at Catelyn Stark, the wife of his father and mother of his brothers and sisters._

_He hadn’t found the courage to give it to her as everyone opened the gifts. But now they were all walking in a park, and he found her sitting on a bench as she looked after the others. He took his chance and handed it to her._

_“What is that?”_

_“I… made a gift. For you.”_

_His voice was hesitant._

_“Thank.. you.” She barely looked at the thing, and Jon felt as if he was a cat delivering her a mouse. Her lips had raised unwillingly as she took it in her hand._

_He waited with anticipation for her to look at it, and she seemed to get his feeling. She frowned, and he thought he saw her eyes softened._

_But then Bran screamed and she turned her head. The moment was gone._

_“Arya!” She called. “Let go of your brother!”_

_The bauble fell from her hand as she ran towards them, and the boy watched it collide with the snow with a resounding crack. Somewhere, somehow, he felt it resonate in his chest._

_He did not dare to take it back at first, content to just look at it. Was it broken? He wondered. Or did it stay intact, as if nothing had happened?_

_“Err… Hello?” He heard._

_He did not answer. Only saw a tiny hand taking the object._

_“Is that yours?”_

_He stared at her, at that girl with silver hair and bright violet eyes. She had the bauble in her tiny hands and she was carefully lifting it to take a better look._

_“That’s weird,” She commented. “But cute. You did that?”_

_He nodded reluctantly._

_“Impressive.” She added, turning the bauble lightly, her eyes catching all the little details. “Could you show me how?”_

_“How what?”_

_“How you did it?”_

_He did not answer at first. Apprehension came over him, and he was tempted to flee. His heart was beating strangely. He did not dare to look at her. Everything about her screamed stranger, with her hair too clear and the way she talked. He had always been told never to talk to strangers. And yet, he could see she was a child, just like him. And he could see another thing too. He felt his cheeks redden as he fidgeted, his fingers searching a thing to hold on to._

_He could still hear the other children. At that moment it felt like they were looking at him, judging him. Maybe laughing at him._

_“You’re not really talkative, are you?”_

_She sighed, and there he thought she was mocking him._

_“Why is there zombies in it?” She added._

_“That’s not for you!” He snapped, taking the bauble from her hand. “Don’t you have anyone else to bother?”_

_His eyes met hers. He froze._

_She was on the point of crying. Then she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, emotions seemed to have left her. Her voice was cold as she uttered these words._

_“Fine. I’ll let you. But know you are not the only one who is lonely. That’s not by snapping at me you’ll fix that.”_

_Somehow, the words shook him, and he watched her leave furiously towards the weirwood trees._

_He followed her._

_He did not know why. But he couldn’t help it. It felt like he had to, as if something was calling him, making him do that._

_And when he saw her stop and fall apart on the crook of one tree, that’s when he understood._

_She was alone, just like him._

_He crouched over her and handed her back the bauble._

_“There,” He said. “I think you forgot that.”_

_She looked at him, bewildered, the bauble on her palm. He fidgeted._

_“I’m sorry,” he mumbled as he sat next to her._

_She said nothing, looking at the bauble. Then her eyes raised towards him._

_“So… Why zombies?”_

_He crossed his arms, his lips unwillingly forming a pout when he wanted to appear irritated._

_“Don’t you see? Even if they come, we’re a pack, we still protect each other.”_

_This somehow brought a smile to her face._

_“So that means that if you give it to me, you’ll have to protect me?”_

_He fidgeted, embarrassed._

_“That means we’re family. Family always protects their own.”_

_She said nothing, but he saw the sadness in her eyes as she raised her head._

_“Family, uh…”_

_There he looked at her and realized he wouldn’t be the same._

_There she saw this boy and she knew what she had been looking for was for her to take, if only she found the strength not to look back._

_“Dany!”_

_She froze. Viserys. He had finally found her._

_She raised, then looked towards the voice. She looked then at the boy and waved him good bye as she ran for her brother._

_“Merry Christmas, bauble boy.”_

_He blushed. Then shook his head. Certainly this strange girl didn’t realize what it could mean._

_*_

“We met once again at school, as they just moved in. And we became friends… strangely.” He added with a chuckle, remembering all the adventures she took him in.

“It’s like a romantic movie,” Elyanne sighed dreamily. Then she added, as if in afterthought. “Except it’s true.”

“And then came the next Christmas, and I, to celebrate that, decided to give her her own bauble. Well, not one made for another. Though, at that time… I didn’t really know what to give to her. So I did what I thought girls liked.”

*

_“Why does the girl have a crown?” She asked as she looked at the bauble._

_He scratched his head, uneasy._

_“Well, I heard every girl wanted to be a princess…. And every princess needs a crown.”_

_“I’m not a princess!” She protested passionately. “I am a Khaleesi!”_

_His eyes widened as he looked at her, dumbfounded._

_“What does that even mean?”_

_She stared at him, dumbfounded, then grinned._

_“I don’t know.” She laughed. “It just came to me at the moment. It felt stronger than a princess. It felt like a queen.”_

_“So why not queen then?”_

_“Because Khaleesi feels more adventurous!”_

_And somehow, he accepted this fantasy of hers, and it made him smile all the more._

_She was something else, this girl. Not like those he had met. Not like Sansa, who liked pretty gowns and romantic songs. Not really like Arya, who was at an age where being a princess was something she definitely didn’t want to if it meant not being allowed to run and climb as she wished._

_She created her own story, and he found himself loving it._

_*_

“And the next one after that…” he continued.

_*_

_“So…” She began with an impatient smile. “Where’s my gift?”_

_This year, he could say with confidence they were pretty close. They helped each other, played with each other, so much that sometimes people asked if they were related. And he had learned to know her, that girl full of ideas and hopes and, most of all, with a big heart that still surprised him these days. Like when she tended to defend the new kids as soon as she felt them threatened._

_The little forest of weirwoods had become their meeting point, the ones where they could enjoy themselves, and tell each other stories and secrets._

_He smiled and handed her the bauble and she looked at it, perplexed._

_“Strange. There’s no zombie in it.”_

_“Look down.”_

_“Oh.”_

_“We look pretty cool on this pile of zombies.” He said nonchalantly. “Us conquering it all. You have my back, I have yours.”_

_“That, we do.” She teased. “But where’s my dragon?”_

_He laughed._

_“You’re greedy, you know that?”_

_She smiled. “Oh, you love me like that!”_

_He froze one second, looking at her, then realized it was true. He laughed with her, hoping she hadn’t seen anything of this. But she was already looking ahead._

_*_

“So you guess what I gave her, the Christmas after that?’

The kids only smiled.

*

_“There’s your dragon.”_

_“I love it!”_

_He saw the light in her eyes. His heart quickened and he couldn’t help but smile._

_Then he shook his head, trying to gather his thoughts. He cleared his throat._

_“Where’s my gift?”_

_She blinked, then smiled at him._

_“Tomorrow you’ll have it.”_

_She would repeat it the next times, and still now she did this. She seemed to enjoy making him impatient._

_He pouted with all the strength of his newly teenage boy’s confidence. But still, it wasn’t enough against the sight of her with a smile._

_“One day, you will have to tell me why you like the dragons so much,” he muttered, putting his hands on his pockets as he did not quite know what to do with them._

_“I feel… a kindred.” She laughed as she sat, then looked at the open sky in front of them. “I think I was one in another life.”_

_He looked at her in wonder, before gathering his courage._

_“And.. me? What do you think I was in another life?”_

_Without hesitation, she answered._

_“A wolf.”_

_He raised an eyebrow._

_“Why a wolf? Why not a dragon?”_

_She looked at him seriously for a moment. He felt uneasiness from her inspection._

_“No. A wolf is better. A wolf is loyal, it looks out for its family. Cares for them.”_

_“Then maybe I should give you one instead?”_

_He saw hope in her eyes, but then she looked down._

_“No. You’re the wolf. I’m the dragon. You said it yourself, I’m greedy, I’m impulsive…”_

_“Hey…” He touched her right arm, not sure if it was okay. “When did I say it was a fault? Beside, I think a dragon is pretty cool. It’s fearless and strong. And it protects what it loves too!”_

_He saw a soft glimmer in her eyes, and it made his heart beat._

_“Thank you.”_

_“… You’re welcome.”_

_He looked at her and he realized. They did not need to talk. All was there, between them. She just had to look at him and he knew what she thought, what she felt. And she knew it too. They just understood each other that much._

_He took her hand in his. It felt right. It felt good._

_Somehow, she was still the same girl he had met many years ago. And yet… She was changing more and more, he couldn’t help noticing that._

_Was he still the same boy to her?_

_*_

He stopped one moment, wondering if he should mention that one bauble, the year after, he did not give. One bauble that once meant everything, for the hope it was filled with.

One bauble he had let go as he saw Daenerys and Drogo kiss under the mistletoe, at one of Viserys’ ridiculous Christmas parties. That one he thought it had been left broken and shattered, but he knew now had found its way in a box, that his wife always left near the Christmas tree, as carefully as she kept the others.

And then another he gave when, one year later, the man broke up with her, leaving her in tears and self-doubt.

A bauble to remind her how she was beautiful. How she was great, clever and bright.

How she was loved.

He cleared his throat.

“Well… Years passed and then… I… The boy wondered if maybe it was time for him to go. But then there was a party.”

*

_Her hips swayed to the music and she was looking at him with these bewitching eyes of hers. Her arms were up to the air. Her hair could barely stay in her bun. Some locks had escaped it and he found himself looking for the end of this. She raised an eyebrow at him, as if daring him to do something. Her lips opened in a smile that did not show her teeth. It was sly, wicked in this light._

_She had led him to the dancefloor and now he felt lost in it. Lost in her rhythm and intoxicated by the heat of the room and the drink in his blood._

_He had just wanted to say goodbye, to give her one last gift. And now he felt like he couldn’t even do that._

_“Don’t you dare look back!” She screamed at him, trying to make herself heard through all the noises of the club._

_“But…”_

_“Keep your eyes on me!”_

_And he did. And somehow it made everything better as he let himself go._

_And somehow, as he did that, the distance between them seemed to disappear little by little._

_There, he couldn’t help it. He kissed her, cupping her face in his hands, intoxicated by her sweet perfume and the tune that wouldn’t leave his mind. To his surprise, she answered in kind, opening her mouth to let him in._

_Then, the music stopped and they had to stop to breathe. Daenerys looked at him in wonder, and he at her. But then, there was another look he could not ignore. That of Viserys, who was glaring at him._

_Dany saw that and excused herself, going towards him._

_She was going away from him. And he let that happen._

_He saw her brother whispering furiously at her, and then he withdrew quietly._

_*_

“But the night wasn’t finished, and when she found me at the end of the party, she wasn’t… very pleased.”

*

_“Don’t you dare leave me for stupid reasons, bauble boy!”_

_“Dany…”_

_“No!” She cried. “I know Viserys talked to you. I know he wants me to go with Daario, because he somehow thinks it would make him look cooler to be seen with him. Just like with Drogo.”_

_She shook her head._

_“But I want to be with you. Only you.” Her arms were around her, and he wanted terribly to comfort her. “You’re… my best friend, Jon. I don’t know what I can do without you.”_

_He stopped, numbed by the word._

_“If you want to go that badly to that boarding school, then I’ll let you go. But please… promise me you’ll come back.”_

_He looked at her then nodded. He took her hands in his, and gave her his gift._

_She chuckled in relief, with tears in her eyes._

*

“Friend?” Reagan protested. “But I thought you and mama were in love all these times?”

“Don’t be dumb, Reagan! Friends can be in love with each other too!”

Jon cracked a smile.

“That’s right, Elyanne, we were. Your mother was just… Too stubborn to declare her undying love to me before I declare myself.”

“That’s not what she said.”

He laughed.

“Of course, she wouldn’t. But then, we saw each other, as often as possible. Then one Christmas, the year we became old enough to decide, she showed up at my place.”

*

_Her eyes were resolute as she entered his room, with her backpack that seemed full of her belongings._

_“I’m leaving. And I want you to go with me.”_

_He couldn’t believe his ears. He couldn’t even believe his eyes as she stepped towards him, a determinate look in her eyes._

_She looked powerful, alive with a fire that inspired him more than he could have thought possible._

_There was no escape from Daenerys Targaryen, he thought at that moment with fondness. And now he felt he couldn’t let go. Not now. Not ever. These months had already been too much._

_“We can do this together.” She stated. “We can all prove them wrong. We can make our voices known, and that of other people as well.”_

_He raised an eyebrow, teasing. But his heart had already made its decision._

_“And how can you be sure we’ll succeed?”_

_“I know so. I know us.”_

_He smiled. That was enough to convince him._

_“That’s my girl.”_

*

“That’s it? Not “I love you” in that version of the story?”

Jon chuckled. “Well, we had all the time in the world after that to tell each other that. Your mother and I began then to live with one another. Job after job, exams after exams, we were always there for the other. We found our ways, we raised together. She was there when I passed the competition for access to the national School for Magistrates. And I was there when she made the first speech of her campaign, before she became deputy. We were together…”

“Like always,” Elyanne said with a teasing smile. “You’re still out there, being lovey-dovey as if we weren’t in the room.”

Reagan frowned, visibly upset by that.

“I like when mama and papa are like that.”

He chuckled. “I like that too, son. Don’t worry, Elyanne only says that to tease us.”

“Not funny.”

He sighed. Reagan was quite sensitive about that, as one of his friends had divorced parents and did not live it well.

“Come here, children,” He said as he opened his arms for them. Without hesitation, they jumped on him and he chuckled, before kissing the top of their heads. “Mama and papa love you both very much. And we love each other very much too.”

Elyanne smiled lightly and he felt somehow the topic had been quite sensitive for her too, even if she had not dared to bring it up.

“Thus bringing us to the final part.”

*

_She was here, more beautiful than ever in her red gown, and he wondered how he could have been so lucky. Strangely, she seemed a bit nervous as she handed him a gift that day._

_“Will you… save humanity with me, bauble boy?”_

_He looked at her, taken aback. He took the bauble in his hand and saw the house with the red door in it, guarded by a wolf and a dragon, their heads bowed towards the other._

_This girl would never cease to amaze him._

_“With you?” He chuckled. “Always.”_

*

“And that, children, that’s how your mama proposed to me. Ten months later, you, Elyanne, you were born.”

The children stayed silent a long time, a smile on their faces. But then, as he raised, they seemed to shake themselves from their fascination.

“There’s still things you do not tell us, dad.”

“Like why don’t we see uncle Viserys anymore? Is he still angry?”

“Or aunt Sansa?”

“This, kids… Is a story for another time.” He answered. “Now it’s time to sleep.”

Christmas had always been more about Dany and him. The others could get lost for all he cared.

“But… mum!” Elyanne protested.

“Your mother will come kissing you when she comes back.”

He kissed them one last time, trying to calm the little squeeze in his heart as he saw their little faces pouting. Ghost settled at the end of the bed, vigilant. He patted his head on the way. 

He closed the door carefully, then chuckled, feeling a presence behind him.

“That’s a pretty story you've told them,” the dear voice of his wife whispered maliciously in his ear.

“You heard it?”

She hugged him from behind as she nodded.

“Every bit. Like the other times.”

He smiled, turning his head towards her.

“Enjoyed it?”

“Very much.”

He chuckled, then caressed her cheek, taking a sweet kiss from her lips.

“The children are in bed, waiting for you to kiss them good night.”

Her eyes brightened and she nodded, opening the door to get to them.

He stayed at the door and looked at them. At the family they had made, and that was now his everything.

“Mama, mama! Papa told us once again your story!”

“Oh, did he now?” She seemed to fight a smile. “And did you enjoy it?”

“I prefer when you and papa tell it together,” Elyanne commented with a pout. “Papa is always beating around the bush.”

Daenerys laughed and he bit his lips, not daring to do the same. Her eyes met his and she whispered mischievously in their ears.

He was the luckiest man alive.

He looked at them as she sang them a lullaby, her arms around them as she lightly swayed them and caressed their cheeks. She kissed their foreheads as they yawned and tucked them up carefully, looking at them all the time as she left the room and turned off the light.

They looked at each other, both exhausted, then smiled.

He led her to the living room, kissing her cheek as she sat down wearily. He warmed up some coffee and brought her the Christmas cookies to cheer her up.

“Here. Take a cookie.”

She took one with a teasing smile and both remembered that time when he burned them, and then pretended he did it on purpose, as surely a dragon must love burned cookies. Then her eyes widened as the flavors, sweet vanilla and chocolate, came overcoming her senses.

“Mmmm… They’re delicious!”

“Reagan made them.”

Her eyes glittered.

“My little boy!”

She looked at the cookie in wonder and pride and took another bite, closing her eyes in bliss. Then she stared at the Christmas tree and he chuckled. She looked just like the girl that had once mischievously taken him the bauble he intended to give on someone else.

Now all the baubles were in the trees, memories of all their times together.

All but one, that was still in a box, a bit apart from them.

“How was work?” He said as he handed her the coffee.

“Good,” She said as she took it, blowing a little at the steam. “Sorry I had to leave you that abruptly.”

“Hey, don’t worry. We understand.”

“Still. It hurts to be called like that, to go protesting at the last minute at an assembly against a law when I should be with my family. Missandei was pissed too. She had to cancel her plans with Grey.”

He sat down next to her.

“What you do is important, they know that. You’re like a superheroine to them, to me. you know that.”

“That’s my job.” She protested. “Listening to old men talking as if they knew everything, but actually forgetting what it actually means for the other people.”

“That’s so much more than that and you know it.” He replied fondly. “You defend our rights. The rights of the people.”

“Sometimes I feel like I’m doing nothing at all.”

“You’ve always been too impatient.” He smiled at her, caressing her hair as she laid her head on his chest. “We’re all very proud of you.”

He felt the smile on her face. She raised her head, her eyes sparkling mischievously.

“I know that. I’ve seen you put your “My wife can kick your ass anyday” t-shirt.”

“Because that’s true.”

“You’re doing pretty well for yourself too, Your Honor.” She stated with a sneaky smile as she played lightly with his tie. “How many bad guys have you sent to jail this year?”

“And how many times did I feel it wasn’t enough?” He could not help but counter.

“You’re too hard on yourself.”

“So are you.”

He leant on her hand when she caressed his cheek, but she could see it was still a burden for him. All the stories he heard, all the lives that depended on him. She felt the same, for every time she had to watch as some law she deemed unjust for the people had to pass.

All they could do was support each other. Be there for the other. He knew he could count on her. And she could count on him. They leant on each other, savoring the peace.

Now their bond was stronger than ever.

“They were relentless, you know,” he said. “The kids. Wouldn’t want to sleep until you came.”

“They’re so precious.” She said. “I wish I could be there with all of you all the time.”

“You’re here and that’s all that matter,” He answered as he pushed one lock over her ear.

She hummed as she nodded.

“You know one day you might have to tell them all, even the dirty bits,” She said after she took a sip from her coffee.

He chuckled.

“Not every one of them, I do hope.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “There are some I want to keep for myself.”

She cracked a smile. “Not these ones, you naughty boy. ” Then she looked down. “One day they might ask… Why we don’t see most of your family… Why my own… isn’t really respected.”

“You worry too much, love.” He interrupted her, caressing her cheek. “You forget Arya. Arya love us. As for the others… They’ll come around.” As she stared at him, he winced. “Once they forget their pride… And how there were more people voting for you to get the place in the assembly than for Sansa….” He winced, then cracked a smile. “And how you put Catelyn back to her place when you first meet them.”

That made a lot of things to forget, for a family who tended to remember every wrong that had been done against them.

“That needed to be said.” She protested, fire burning in her eyes. Then her gaze softened and she smiled. “Arya is the best. She and Gendry really pulled this off, this Christmas. The turkey wasn’t even burned!”

“That’s because Gendry cooked it.”

She laughed as she leant more on the sofa. She took another sip from her coffee.

“You know, in your story… you forget some pretty funny times too,” She said. “Remember that time when you tried to build that shelter because you thought it was going to be the end of the world?”

“All the signs were there!” He protested, before cracking a smile. “Catelyn was in rage when she saw that.”

“You always had the knack to lead me to do silly things.” She laughed. “I had to go home that day with mud all over my clothes. Father and Viserys weren’t very pleased. Rhaegar was laughing his ass off.”

Silence came after that, and he remembered her brother and the sorrow he left her with when he left home.

Escaping with his own aunt.

And how their car crashed when the police that had been called pursued them.

Her voice came breaking the silence, slightly teasing, slightly shaking.

“And you forget that time Ygritte had to kiss you in front of everyone for you to realize she liked you.”

“Well, you were here, so it was difficult to focus.”

“That didn’t stop you dating her.”

“As you were dating Drogo that time.”

“Touché.”

She sighed.

“We were all so very stubborn, both of us,”

“That we were.”

She hummed, her eyes towards the stairs.

“Sometimes I worry for Reagan. He’s so shy I’m afraid he will let others dictate what he should do. Or think.”

“Elyanne is the fiercest, she’ll protect him,” He answered. “She’s a warrior, this one. Just like her mother.”

She turned towards him, smirking.

“You know you have a touch of it too. You just tend to dramatize a little too much.”

“Oh, I dramatize?”

“Oh yes, mister “the world is ending, so kiss me woman.” She cracked a smile. “When it was just a little thunder!”

He took her in his arms to hide his own smile, his nose buried in the crook of her neck.

She laughed, caressing his arms around her.

“Do you know all could have been settled long ago if you had told me you loved me?”

“Oh really?”

She nodded, an amused glint on her eyes.

“Then let me settle this very simply,” He declared solemnly.

He looked at her intensely, his hands caressing her hips in circles, slowly making her pants and her undergarment fall down. He felt her shiver under his touch and hear her slight gasp as she leant back, her hands gripping the handle of the sofa.

She kept her eyes on him, the color of it darkening as his lips got closer to her body. He smelled her arousal tickling his nose. He wettened his mouth, thirst gripping him as he intoxicated himself in her presence.

“I love you Daenerys. Dany. Whatever you decide your name to be. Now and always.”

She caressed his cheek. Lightly, but it burned all the same. He turned to kiss these fingers, catching one on his mouth a moment to get a taste of her, before letting go.

It wasn’t enough. It was never enough.

“Now and always.” She repeated, her voice thickened with a desire that echoed with his.

He kissed her sex now revealed to him, and her back arched. His tongue went down and he licked eagerly her bundle of nerves, savoring the taste of her that was stronger minute by minute.

Her cheeks were red and her eyes darkened. He felt as if a halo surrounded her as he continued pleasuring her again and again.

“Fuck.”

She cupped his face with her hands and kissed him. Her lips were hungry as they collided with his, and he responded in kind, for he felt as famished as her. The taste of her, and the teasing of her tongue drove him in the edge. He pushed her against the sofa.

She moaned between his kisses, and he feared it would wake the kids upstairs. But then he forgot it all when her eyes opened and met his, and the blood came faster far below. His hands brought her closer to him, and she guided one towards one of her breasts, underneath her shirt. He teased the tip of it with his fingers until it became hard.

“Oh, what would the other deputies think, love, if they knew you wear no bra underneath that light shirt of yours?” He commented, taking a breast on his mouth after opening some buttons.

She bit her lips and dared him with a smile.

“That I love my husband so much that I don’t want him to struggle with it?”

His eyes brightened. “Good answer.”

Then he felt her hand on his erection, caressing it lightly under his pants.

He stopped. She was smirking.

“I want you inside me. Now.”

“So commanding,” He commented.

“Shut up and fuck my brains off, bauble boy.”

He laughed and took her lips with them, trying to erase that smirk off it. But it was too late. She had drawn the same on his face, and he helped her getting rid of the offending clothes. Her hands were pumping just the right way, from roots to tip, at first teasing then more and more urgently.

Could he last long enough? He thought as he looked at her. Perhaps no. He kissed her and took her hand with his, putting it on the sofa. She pouted, and he knew she would get revenge the next time. He smiled through their kisses and took off the rest of their clothes. Chest again chest, skin on skin. That’s how he still preferred them now, and not even years of being married had lessened that.

He buried his cock inside her, longing to anchor her and never let go. On and on he went, his thrusts guided by her own, faster and faster until the ache mixed with pleasure and euphoria. It felt like hours, maybe decades. It seemed time escaped them, as if they were in a bubble of their own. Her lips opened to make the softest moans. Her eyes were on his, telling her all about her thoughts and feelings. She caressed his cheek and kissed him one last time, before turning the tables.

The sofa cracked under them, but he did not care.

She was his and he was hers. Simple like that. Their fingers intertwined as she rode him, her hips settling on a slowly progressive rhythm that made him feel like his heart was about to burst.

She looked at him and saw it all. She felt aflame and the more she went, the more she burned. She gasped and he raised, taking her in his arms, his lips on her throat as the stars came slowly lighten in their eyes.

With one last gasp, he released a cry as their fluids mixed and she gasped. She was shaking as she attempted to get another kiss from his opened lips.

Forehead against forehead, they looked at each other, the haze disappearing little by little, but not the pleasure and the slight ache in their loins. They grinned as their noses bumped.

But as he was about to land a cover on them both, her eyes widened.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” She cried with excitation. “Your gift!”

She raised abruptly.

“Didn’t you give me mine minutes ago?” He tried to take her back into his arms, on the sofa, but she shook him off with a grin.

“No, you silly. Open it.” She said as she retrieved the thing in her handbag.

He sat with a pout, covering himself with the cover, but his pout couldn’t resist at seeing her carefree nakedness in front of him. And so he did, carefully and slowly removing the gift wrap, just enough to enjoy her impatience. But when he looked at the carved wood, he couldn’t help it.

“A wolf?” He said with a smile, his heart beating at the realization.

“Better than that. A howling direwolf,” She specified, smiling as she did so. “Strong, supportive and protective. Someone you can count on, always. That’s what you represent to me. You’ve always been there for me. Looking out for me. You with your little baubles, and your hidden messages. You always made me feel loved and cared for. You gave me what I thought I could never have. A true family.”

She went closer to him, putting her hands on his chest.

“And I’m so glad I’m part of it.”

He took her in his arms, his heart squeezing as he did so.

“I love you.”

She grinned. “I know.”

“So much.”

She chuckled as he squeezed her against his chest.

“But I think something is missing.” He raised his eyebrow, before moving towards the Christmas Tree and putting the wolf underneath the bubble with the dragon, which made it seemed like the wolf was serenading the flying mythic creature. “There. All done now.”

“My dragon!” She half-protested, the smile on her lips betraying her fondness. “You silly man.”

They stared at this strange couple, that yet seemed to be quite well with one another. She hummed a little Christmas carol, savoring one last embrace in his arms. He added his own part, and she laughed, nudging him to make him stop. Then came the silence and she moved toward the box, that one she always insisted to bring near the Christmas tree.

The one he had wanted to give once, but couldn’t. And now they were only fragments of glass he had protested against when she first showed him she had kept it.

“I always wondered… What was this one for?” She asked softly “What did it represent?”

He froze, then put his face on her shoulder, squeezing her a bit closer. He knew what she was talking about, for it had been a question that stayed for many years. Before he did not dare to, fearing she might mock him. But now, it did not matter anymore. He smiled.

“You and me. Together.”

“But we were already together?” She looked at him baffled. Then she realized. “Oh… All that time?”

He leant on her, smiling.

“Since you picked up that Christmas bauble and told me I wasn’t the only one being lonely.”

“You were an ass that time.” She teased, trying to lighten the mood.

“I know,” he chuckled. “And you were too inquisitive.”

She smiled.

“So that’s what it means.” She said, her fingers grazing at it. “Now what you said that day makes more sense.”

“What did I say?”

She chuckled and turned towards him. “Something overtly ambiguous, and that certainly made you feel cool when you said it. “What is broken cannot be brought back the way it was. But maybe we can try to create a new one.”, if I remember well.”

“Ouch.” He smiled. “I felt that. But still you kept it.”

She caressed his cheek.

“You were right,” She said. “What we’ve built, it is only ours. Not your family’s. Not mine’s. Ours. And for every time you broke my heart, I broke yours too. But together we move on and we build anew, over and over. And it’s never actually the same.” She said softly, caressing his chest, at the place where his heart laid. “I kind of like what we’ve built now.”

“Christmas had always made you more philosophical.” He let it resonate in the room, thinking about it. Then finally he added, taking her into his arms to get her to their chambers. “I kind of like what we’ve build too.”

She raised her arms to put it around his neck. Her eyes were struggling to stay opened.

“And what about my gift?”

“Tomorrow, you’ll have it. Merry Christmas, my love.”

He couldn’t wait for her to see the gift now. He couldn’t wait to see her eyes, and that of the children’s glittering as they looked at the new additions. But not now. It could wait. They had all time for that.

She pouted a little, before smiling peacefully. Her voice was sleepy as she wished him the same.

“Merry Christmas.”


End file.
